Bring Me The Horizon are on the cusp of being a properly big band. They’ve been doing arenas since before the release of their last album but they’ve yet to properly crossover. ‘That’s The Spirit’ took them all the way to the edge, selling out The o2, Ally Pally, The Royal Albert Hall as well as dominating festival sets at Reading and Glastonbury, but still, they’ve never quite been as big as they want to.
That looks set to change with sixth album ‘Amo’. It’s not out yet but the band have already announced a festival headline slot at All Points East and they’re back with twice the sold out dates at Ally Pally as before, with only two new songs to their name. The band aren’t just repeating what they’ve done before though. That’d be too easy. Tonight’s show is very different to anything they’ve done recently, switching out huge video screens and pantomime encouragement for an industrial sparseness and community takeover.
They’re in good company with Yonaka, who’ve spent pretty much every moment of their existence as a band switching things up. Finding their voice over a clutch of EP’s, the almost back-to-back release of ‘Creature’ and ‘Teach Me To Fight’ saw the band finally settle into a rhythm and tonight, they’re on fierce form. Fearless and free, they make use of every inch of the huge stage and make themselves known to every person present.
Fever 333 are a force of nature. On paper, they’re a fusion of rap and hardcore but in real life, they’re a little bit of everything. Rage Against The Machine, for a generation of people who know it’s not the machines that are the problem, their music is heavily political, heavily personal and furiously compassionate. Shouting for empathy, equality and change, they blast through an electric forty-five-minute set, that sees them constantly moving on, and off the stage. With an album out in the new year, they’re pretty much the most exciting rock band around and tonight is proof why.
It’s not just their stage show that’s changed. Bring Me The Horizon now perform with an easy confidence. Whereas before, they made a point time and time again to prove that they know how to command a room of this size, this evening they let the music lead the way. Of course the likes of ‘Shadow Moses’, ‘Happy Song’ and ‘Antivist’ have the place up in arms, but an old school medley turns out to be an unexpected highlight as the band throw things back but maintain their pop star prowess while an acoustic reworking of ‘Drown’ exposes the vulnerability and tenderness within. A closing one-two of ‘Doomed’ and ‘Throne’ sees the band at the peak of their undeniable power and as they leave, with confetti still falling from the ceiling, there’s the promise that when they return, they’ll be even bigger.
Words: Ali Shutler
